Tempus Fugitive Read Online Free PDF Page A

selected the appropriate file and hit “enter” the screen popped up.
    PLEASE ENTER PASSWORD
     ‘Oh,’ said Tamar.
    ‘Don’t worry,’ said Denny, rubbing his hands together.  ‘I can break in I think, I expected this; you didn’t think the files would be unprotected did you?’ 
    ‘We should never have been able to get this far,’ she said. ‘Not without the codes to mainframe, I never thought … you’re sure you can do it?’
    ‘I should be able to, but before I do, are we sure this is the file we want?  I mean if we can access the personal files, might we not be able to go straight to him?  My granddad I mean, Askphrit’s bound to be there.’
    ‘Not without the codes to the files.  We won’t know which file is his.’
    ‘So, how will we know which file to go to in the historical files?’ 
    ‘We won’t, but there won’t be as many to choose from.’
    ‘What about, mythical – personal?’ said Stiles.  ‘To find Askphrit, would that work?’ 
    ‘It might, but there are at least three of him floating about out there now, and two of Ran-Kur, because of what we did.  Historically speaking, it’s a whole big mess.  If we access the historical files, we can search different periods of history for him, I hope.  Look I know it’s not a perfect plan, even with the codes, we wouldn’t know where to start looking, but we have to start somewhere.’  She looked at them imploringly.  ‘Just getting into the past at all is a huge accomplishment. And once we’re there, we’ll have all the time in the world, literally. We will find him.’
    Denny cracked his knuckles.  ‘Okay, this shouldn’t take long.’
    * * *
    It was not really three hours later, because time had stopped, but it sure felt like it to those waiting, when Denny finally said.  ‘Okay, I can’t do it.’
    Tamar was surprisingly calm at this news.  ‘Never mind,’ she said, ‘there might be another way to break in.’
    ‘What?’ asked Stiles.
    She turned to Denny.  ‘Do you need a rest?’
    ‘No,’ he said, surprised.  ‘I’m fine, it’s like I only just sat down.’ 
    ‘That’ll be because time’s stopped,’ said Tamar.  ‘I keep forgetting, I suppose it’s because we’re all moving about like normal.’
    ‘Normal?’
    ‘Well … normal for us anyway.’ 
    ‘What’s this other way to break in?’ reiterated Stiles.
    ‘Well, we just break in, in a more literal sense, from the deleted file. We can get into that – we know we can.’
    ‘But we don’t know that we can get out ,’ Denny pointed out.  ‘Last time it was Clive who helped us out.’ 
    ‘Who’s Clive?’ asked Stiles.
    ‘A clerk, who looks after the files,’ said Tamar.  ‘And we didn’t know he would be there when we went in, that didn’t stop us.’ 
    ‘I don’t propose that it should stop us now,’ said Denny.  ‘I just want Jack to know what he’s getting himself in to.’ 
    ‘I thought you said that Hecaté could pull us out, if things got hairy,’ said Stiles.
    Tamar looked awkward.  ‘That idea rather depended on us getting in to the historical files from here,’ she admitted.  ‘The problem with this way is: we might not get into the mainframe at all. We could end up stuck in the deleted file.  And even if we do get in, Hecaté won’t have access to the files from here.’ 
    ‘I will work on it,’ offered Hecaté.  ‘Maybe I will have luck.’  
     ‘Well, I’m going,’ said Tamar.  ‘Bring up the file.’
    ‘How come the deleted files don’t have passwords?’ asked Denny.  ‘I never thought of it before.’
    ‘I guess they don’t bother, because there’s nothing in them. Besides, we got given the “back door” way in, and that’s how we’ll get into mainframe.’
    ‘We?’ said Stiles.
    ‘Yes,’ said Denny.  We, at least, I’m going.’  
    ‘Then I guess I am too,’ said Stiles.
    Hecaté sighed.

~Chapter Three ~
    T he file had been emptied since Askphrit’s